250 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOUENAL. 



[May, 



we shall follow his directions in the spring. His 

 method commends itself to us as rational ; and 

 we are very much obliged to him and the Bee 

 Journal for their very prompt reports. Being a 

 "country parson," I am not much troubled with 

 gold ; but I look at my yellow-banded bees with 

 much of the feeling with which a miser looks at 

 his gold. Wm. Gill. 



River Falls, Wis. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Eambling Notes and Comments. 



Mr. Editor : — Your welcome messenger, the 

 March number of the Bee Journal, is received. 

 First, it contains the report of the American 

 Bee-keepers' Convention, at Cincinnati. No 

 doubt many will read the proceedings with great 

 interest. Then comes in our friend from New 

 Jersey, with No. 2 of his experience in that 

 State ; and our friend from Maine gives us the 

 methods of wintering practised by bee-keepers 

 there. While it is known that there are from 

 twelve to fifteen thousand bee-keepers there, it 

 is stated that nine out of ten have not advanced 

 beyond the old box hive. This is truly lamenta- 

 ble, at this late day. Where are the friends of 

 the American Bee Journal ? Had the bee-keepers 

 theie been a little more familiar with its teach- 

 ings, the darkness and ignorance of this subject 

 would long since have been numbered among 

 the things that were. 



Friend Curtis, too, from North Carolina, has 

 given some good resolutions, if they are only 

 put in practice. The Alsike clover spoken of 

 will not only make there an Eldorado for bees, 

 but for almost all kinds of stock. From our ex- 

 perience we would say, cultivate it largely. I 

 think you never will regret it. Then comes in 

 Novice, again hitting right and left, as usual ; 

 stirring up the ideas of many so-called bee-men. 

 He touches brother Hazen softly ; also mentions 

 friends Gallup and Quinby, with regard to the 

 melextractor, movable comb hives, &c. He also 

 gives the queen nurseries a little rub. Well, 

 Mr. Editor, I am a looker-on in this matter of 

 improvements. I use such as, in my opinion, 

 will meet the wants and wishes of the apiarian, 

 at the least expense. There are now several 

 hives before the public that are worthy of notice, 

 and I am sure that it would not injure the repu- 

 tation of the best man in America to use them. 

 And here let me state one thing with regard to 

 queen nurseries. I think I never saw but one in 

 my life that I would use, yet there may be sev- 

 eral very good ones. I have one manufactured 

 by Dr. Jewel Davis, of Illinois, and if there was 

 ever a success in improvement, I am sure this is 

 one, and cannot fail to meet the wants of any 

 and all ca did and unselfish apiarians in the 

 country. I am not in the habit of giving what 

 some of my friends might call a puft', as I can 

 tell yovi that I liave no interest in any. But I 

 J never like to see improvements — and "improve- 



ments" they are — spoken of lightly. I have 

 used one of the queen nurseries made by Dr. 

 Davis, and if I could not get the same that 



would work as well, I would as soon think of 

 keeping house without a cook stove. Every 

 bee-keeper should have one or more of them in 

 his apiary. 



To-day, March 4th, the bees are flying finely ; 

 many of them are carrying pollen. This I saw 

 them do on the 1st of January, thouoh I never saw 

 the like before in this country. Thus far, bees 

 have wintered finely; never could they be in a 

 finer condition than now. They M^ent into win- 

 ter quarters in a better state than before for many 

 years. The honey was of the best quality and 

 plenty of it. I have five stocks, as strong as any 

 I ever saw, that were wintered on their summer 

 stands, and only consumed of their stores up to 

 the 3d of March, as follows : No. 1, 7 lbs. 4 oz. ; 

 No. 2, 8 lbs. 3 oz. ; No. 3, 9 lbs. 3 oz. ; No. 4, 

 9 lbs. 5 oz. ; No. 5, 10 lbs. 2 oz. If the season 

 should prove to be a good one, bees are in a fine 

 condition to secure plentiful returns ; but as 

 I see many are breeding rapidly during this 

 month, they will use more honey, — many flying 

 out and returning, the consumption will, of 

 course, be greater. 



One thing more and I am done. I liave been 

 trying some of the patent honey comb founda- 

 tions made by the editor of the American Bee 

 Journal, samples of which were shown at Cffi- 

 cinnati, to the members of the late Bee-keepers' 

 Convention. I i^laced a swarm in a cellar, and 

 fed them. Thvis far, they have lengthened the 

 cells finely. They worked so nicely, that I was 

 almost tempted to make an offer for this ' ' Yan- 

 kee" State. Should this invention be as suc- 

 cessful as it now has tlie appearance of being, 

 it must inevitably be the means of revolution- 

 izing bee culture to a large extent. I shall keep 

 watch and see who is the first man that will dare 

 open his mouth or draw the pen and say, "in- 

 fringement" upon this improvement. I shall 

 try and experiment upon it, and report pro- 

 gress from time to time. Mr. Editor, please 

 pardon me for taking this liberty without being 

 asked ; and also excuse this lengthy and hastily 

 written article. 



A. H, Moon. 



Paw Paw, Mich., March 4, 1871. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Experiments with Drones, Honey Boxes, Etc. 



Early in the season of 1867, 1 selected a strong 

 stock of black bees in a Flander's hive, and by 

 exchanging cards removed all the drone combs 

 from the breeding apartment, leaving no open 

 space to rebuild any. As soon as white clover 

 began to yield honey abundantly, I laid thin 

 strips of board on top of the frames, leaving 

 about one-fourth of the space open for the heat 

 and the bees to ascend. Over this I inverted a 

 plain bottomless box of the capacity of forty 

 pounds. This the bees filled in about two weeks. 

 On removing it, I found fully one-third of its 

 contents to be sealed drone larva). I brushed 

 out the bees and set the box in a cool cellar forty- 

 eight hours, and then returned it to the bees ; 

 but as they did not carry out any dead drones 



